Securing digital systems is an ever-escalating arms race between security providers and attackers that may seek to harm or inappropriately access a system. Software security systems and protective definitions and heuristics are better than ever, and future software security systems will provide coverage against even more threats as new problems are discovered. Similarly, attackers are constantly improving their methods in order to beat the latest security advances. Digital threats may cause their damage and erase their tracks before a detection solution becomes available. Furthermore, threats may evolve over time in order to outpace the development of detection technology while maintaining a presence on the target system. Such issues lead to potential future vulnerabilities, such as if an attacker installs a backdoor onto a system, and may complicate digital forensic analysis, such as when attacks erase evidence of their ever having affected the computing system.
Unfortunately, many traditional software security systems are generally unable to apply their updated detection schemes to the past. Such a failing makes it difficult for a software security system to retroactively detect the presence of devious security threats. The instant disclosure, therefore, identifies and addresses a need for additional and improved systems and methods for time-shifted detection of security threats.